Windsor's parking problem seems to be holding back some businesses from meeting customer demand.
The city continues to study how to meet the demand for parking in a number of commercial neighbourhoods, with a recommendation on improvements expected by the end of the summer.
'Better Made Cabinets' and 'Better Made Properties' owner Vern Myslichuk says the Little Italy area on Erie St. is in desperate need of an off-street parking solution.
"There are so many great restaurants, but you can't get to them. It's great that there's a nice restaurant, and we have a nice restaurant as well, we'd love for people to come — but we get five cars and then they just drive around, drive around and they stop coming because everybody gets tired of driving around," says Myslichuk.
According to Myslichuk, a lack of adequate parking is proving costly.
"We had a past tenant that actually left because there was no parking," says Myslichuk. "We've taken over the building and we're trying to create a sort of cocktail lounge in there and now we're facing the exact same problem."
An open house is held at 400 City Hall Sq. in Windsor regarding off-street parking solutions for Main Street areas. Photo taken May 24, 2017. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Kristy LeBlanc works at the Olde Walkerville Theatre and says the problem is only becoming more difficult with the growing popularity of the neighbourhood.
She feels converting abandoned buildings into usable parking could be a win-win situation.
"Walkerville is such an historical area and they really don't want to touch anything there and I understand that, but rather than having abandon buildings, I think more [parking] help in the area would stop the abandon buildings," says LeBlanc.
The city currently has an interim by-law in place that prevents any new expansions of off-street parking in Business Improvement Areas as it studies the problem.
The interim by-law is set to expire in September 6, 2017.